Tañada vs.

Tuvera
G.R. No. L-63915
April 24, 1985

ESCOLIN, J.:

Facts:

Invoking the people's right to be informed on matters of public concern as well as the principle that laws to be valid and
enforceable must be published in the Official Gazette or otherwise effectively promulgated, petitioners seek a writ of
mandamus to compel respondent public officials to publish, and/or cause the publication in the Official Gazette of various
presidential decrees, letters of instructions, general orders, proclamations, executive orders, letter of implementation and
administrative orders. The respondents, through the Solicitor General, would have this case dismissed outright on the ground
that petitioners have no legal personality or standing to bring the instant petition, absence of any showing that petitioners are
personally and directly affected or prejudiced by the alleged non-publication of the presidential issuances in question said
petitioners are without the requisite legal personality to institute this mandamus proceeding, they are not being "aggrieved
parties." Petitioners maintain that since the subject of the petition concerns a public right and its object is to compel the
performance of a public duty, they need not show any specific interest for their petition to be given due course. Respondents
further contend that publication in the Official Gazette is not a sine qua non requirement for the effectivity of laws where the
laws themselves provide for their own effectivity dates. It is thus submitted that since the presidential issuances in question
contain special provisions as to the date they are to take effect; publication in the Official Gazette is not indispensable for their
effectivity.

Issue:

Whether the petitioners have legal personality to bring the instant petition?

Held:

Yes. The petitioners have legal personality to bring the instant petition.

Ratio Decidendi:

The reasons given by the Court in recognizing a private citizen's legal personality in the aforementioned case apply squarely to the
present petition. Clearly, the right sought to be enforced by petitioners herein is a public right recognized by no less than the
fundamental law of the land. If petitioners were not allowed to institute this proceeding, it would indeed be difficult to conceive of any
other person to initiate the same, considering that the Solicitor General, the government officer generally empowered to represent
the people, has entered his appearance for respondents in this case.

Disposition: The Court hereby orders respondents to publish in the Official Gazette all unpublished presidential issuances which
are of general application, and unless so published, they shall have no binding force and effect.